When you work as a nurse, working long hours is somewhat inevitable. This is particularly true for all professions but when it comes to healthcare, be it nursing staff, doctors, technicians, etc. are working round the clock to ensure the wellbeing of their patients.
Regardless of you working day in and day out, you will not get any extra recognition or monetary benefit in comparison to other people working in your hospital. Moreover, the amount of time you spend at work does not equate to quality if care, so rather one should focus on maximizing productivity in contrast to time.
As a nurse, you will always be short on time where straight 24 hours may not even be enough. Therefore, to ensure that you perform your best and give the patients the best of your time, effectively managing your duty hours is extremely important.
As a nurse, or a healthcare professional, the thing that will make you successful is your ability to respond to complex situation and your command over your speciality. Moreover, medicine is a profession that revolves around learning all year round, so the more time you dedicate to the field, the better you will excel at what you do. Therefore, as a healthcare professional, your learning will never stop, and every patient will be an opportunity for you to succeed professionally.
If you are a medical expert who is struggling to extract meaning out of your long shifts, continue reading further.
Have you ever pondered, why do medical staff work long hours?
While some people work long hours to meet deadlines, clear backlog, and study or conduct research, others work for long hours as they want to be seen as good workers in contrast to others. However, as a human, working long unwarranted hours can have adverse effects resulting in no time for oneself. To ace as a healthcare expert, one can deploy the coping strategies to manage your time at work. Below are some of the tips that can help you excel at work:
Do a comparison and identify the value-adding vs. the non-value adding
When you are assigned a task, the first thing you need to do is identify the value it may or may not add. For instance, if you have to administer medicines to a patient at a certain time, there is no possible way you can delay that. However, things like sorting inventory can be done at a later time. Therefore, as a nurse, your primary goal is to focus on those tasks first that revolve around patient welfare.
Try To Focus On The Important Tasksng
You need to understand that you cannot do everything, every day. As a medical professional, the first thing you need to do when you start your day is list down your priorities. Start performing your most important tasks first and once you are done with them, move onto the next set of tasks. Moreover, since healthcare is filled with emergency cases that need utmost care, be prepared to go off schedule but try to get back on track as soon as possible.
Make a schedule
If you work in the same ward or clinic, it will be relatively easier for you to plan your day out. Your pattern will be similar - plus or minus new patients coming or leaving. Knowing how youd spend your day will give you better command.
When you plan your day, make a to do list and prioritize each task as urgent, important, crucial, etc. this will give you a better idea of the things on your shoulder. You can then strike out the tasks that you complete.
Track your time
Revolves If you know the amount of time you will be spending on a task, you will be in control. Since nursing often revolves around similar tasks on a daily basis, by organizing your time, you will be in a better frame of mind.
Ideally, you should time your tasks. For instance, before each task start the timer and end the timer when you finish the task. This way you will be able to time yourself the next time you perform the same task.
Eat enough
Healthcare professionals are the staunch advocates of consuming a balanced diet, but they are often the ones who fail to do so. Due to the busy job requirements of healthcare professionals, they are likely the ones eating off schedule ad unhealthy items.
Thereby, whenever you are planning your day, make sure that you give adequate time to your meals. Since mostly cafeterias at hospitals at healthy meal options, you won't have difficulty in finding healthy meals. However, if you do not have access to healthy food, make sure to keep your meals with you. You need to give your health utmost importance.
Take breaks
If you intend to deliver quality healthcare services, you need to understand that taking frequent breaks to unwind is very important.
Don't Be Distracted
One of the common reasons why people spend more time at work is because of their procrastination. Instead of focusing on their work, they spend more time on social media, surfing the web, texting, emails, etc. These distractions are good once in a while, but can take a majority chunk of your time if not monitored strictly. Therefore, just ensure that you are well focused.
CONCLUSION
All in all, healthcare professionals are required to manage their time in order to perform their best. While sudden tasks and assignments are imperative, staying in control of your schedule will keep you at ease all day long.